St. Joseph's Health logo
St. Joseph's Health
Paterson, New Jersey

Per Diem Registered Respiratory Therapist

Respiratory TherapistPer Diem

Compensation

Pay not listed

The week · per this posting

Schedule not stated in this posting — no days, weekends, call or nights given.

Ask the employer about the pay range, the work setting, call expectations and time off.

Posted 1h ago · Verified live

Job Description

Under general supervision and according to established procedure specific to age and upon order of a physician provides respiratory care designed to stabilize, prevent or remedy patient respiratory problems.

In doing so, arranges and operates a variety of oxygen and other therapeutic gas equipment in order to safely administer prescribed doses of medical gases and aerosolized drugs to patients.

Checks equipment regularly for proper functioning and records data obtained during therapy and diagnostic testing in patient charts. Draws, analyzes, and reports ABGs to physicians and nurses. Involved with adult ventilator weaning protocol and MDI protocol. Participates in embracing excellence and relationship based care.

Qualifications

Work requires a graduate of an approved A.M.A. school for Respiratory Therapy.

Must hold a current NBRC (National Board for Respiratory Care credential (Certified or Registered) and must have a current license issued by the New Jersey State Board of Respiratory Care.

Work requires the analytical ability to resolve problems that require the use of basic scientific, mathematical, or technical principles.

Must be able to explain clinical, technical and diagnostic procedures to patients and their families, comforting patients and their families, enforcing policies and regulations in difficult situations, or performing other duties requiring a comparable level of communication skill.

Work requires providing direct patient care to neonate, pediatric, adolescent, young adult, adult and geriatric patients. Current and continued BLS (Basic Life Support) certification is required.

Effective January 2019, St. Joseph’s Health requires all employee certifications for Basic Life Support (BLS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) to be granted through the American Heart Association.

St. Joseph’s Health is recognized for the expertise and compassion of its highly skilled and responsive staff. The combined efforts of the organization’s outstanding physicians, superb nurses, and dedicated clinical and professional staff have made us one of the most highly respected healthcare organizations in the state, the largest employer in Passaic County, and one of the nation’s “100 Best Places to Work in Health Care”.

Benefits Eligibility: (Full-time and Part-time Employees-over 20 hours a week)

  • Competitive salary*
  • Robust benefits with health, dental, Rx and vision plans
  • 403b retirement plan options with company match**
  • Health & Wellness*
  • Non-Profit Health System – eligible for Federal Student Loan Forgiveness
  • PTO, and paid holidays
  • Tuition reimbursement
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • LTD: Long Term Disability
  • Life Insurance Options
  • Onsite Day care Program

*Available for Per Diem Employees and Part-time Employees working under 20 hours per week.

**403b Company Match not applicable for Per Diem Employees and Part-time Employees working under 20 hours per week.

Pay transparency: St. Joseph’s Health provides a salary range to comply with New Jersey Law. The rate of pay for each position will be determined based on a variety of factors including the candidate's relevant experience, qualifications, skills, etc.” The salary range does not include incentives, differential pay or other forms of compensation.

St. Joseph’s University Medical Center is an academic tertiary care medical center and state designated trauma center, located on the Paterson campus, regularly accepts referrals of difficult or unusual cases from other hospitals and physicians and performs both complex and routine procedures.

The Medical Center offers a full complement of specialty and subspecialty services including ambulatory, behavioral health, cardiovascular, emergency/trauma, internal medicine, neuroscience, oncology, orthopedic/spine, rehabilitation, surgical specialty, women’s health, imaging and pediatrics.

The nursing team at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center, which includes St.

Joseph’s Children’s Hospital, has held the Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence, the profession’s highest honor, since 1999. They are also recipients of the prestigious 2010 Magnet Prize™ - one of only 8 Magnet-designated hospitals to ever receive The Magnet Prize, and the only one worldwide to receive the 2010 award.

Key Responsibilities

Provides respiratory care to patients by operating therapeutic gas equipment and administering prescribed medical gases and aerosolized drugs. Performs diagnostic testing, analyzes ABGs, and participates in ventilator weaning protocols while maintaining accurate patient charts.

Qualifications

Education
Professional certificate or licensure

Key Skills

Oxygen equipment operationMedical gas administrationAerosolized drug administrationABG analysisPatient chartingClinical communicationBLS certificationACLS certificationPALS certification

Respiratory Therapy Career Context

Of the 48 active Respiratory Therapy listings this role was benchmarked against, 2% are remote, 50% have no call, 50% require no weekends.

Respiratory Therapy pay on WeekdayDoc is up 2.7% vs. the prior quarter (through Sep 2026).

Respiratory Therapy by the numbers
MeasureThis jobMarket
Listed paynot listedRespiratory Therapy median $114k (middle half $114k–$114k)13 comparable listings, Oct 2026
Cost of livingNew Jersey index 108.8US average = 100BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)
Respiratory Therapy listings in New Jersey91 active4,011 nationallylive on WeekdayDoc, Oct 2026
Work settingon-sitepeers: 2% remote · 50% no call · 50% no weekends48 benchmarked listings
Sign-on & loan repaymentloan repaymentUS healthcare professional listings: 23% state a sign-on bonus (median $14k) · 8% offer loan repayment1,000 active listings, Oct 2026
Respiratory Therapy pay trend+2.7% vs prior quarter—through Sep 2026
Sources: WeekdayDoc live listing index, BEA Regional Price Parities (2024); as of Oct 2026. Same values as the Weekday Verdict and Market Insights on this page.

Top contract/1099 Respiratory Therapist Jobs

33 matches · ranked by pay

Salary Distribution

23 jobs · 18 employers
10
<$85k
4
$85k-100k
6
$100k-115k
1
$116k
2
$130k+

Annual compensation range

Benefits & Perks

22 jobs · 18 employers
401k / retirement match
82% this job
Sign-on bonus
55%
Loan repayment
18% this job
Relocation assistance
14%
PSLF eligible
9% this job

Share of similar jobs offering each benefit

#1

Respiratory Therapist – CRT/RRT

Garnet Health · Middletown, New York

$45.05 - $63.70/hr
#2

Respiratory Therapist II

Olympic Medical Center · Port Angeles, Washington

$41.41-$62.92/hr
#3

Respiratory Therapist - Providence Kodiak Island

$37.08-$55.62/hr
#4

Respiratory Therapist

$37.61-$55.27/hr
+ 31 more · ranked by pay

Work-life snapshot

median 3.0this job 3.0
Better work-life than 50% of Respiratory Therapy listings

Listing-based score, 0–10, across 3,991 comparable listings. Shaded area = the share scoring below this one.

St. Joseph's Health logo

About St. Joseph's Health

Hospitals and Health Care
Paterson, NJ
1,001-5,000 employees

Benefits & Perks

403b retirement plan with company match
Federal Student Loan Forgiveness eligibility
PTO and paid holidays
Tuition reimbursement
Employee Assistance Program
Onsite Day care Program

Living in Paterson

Typical 3-bedroom home value
$508k
Typical market rent
$1,889/mo
Residents’ average commute
23 min
State income tax
Up to 10.8%
Sources & methodology

Sources: Zillow home values (Sep 2026), Zillow market rents (Sep 2026), U.S. Census ACS 2024 five-year.

City-level figures. Not a cost-of-living guarantee.